The Education of Bet

I'm of two minds over The Education of Bet. On the one hand, this had all the makings of a historical novel I love. Feisty heroine, madcap adventures, romance, family secrets and its set somewhere in the 1800's. However, maybe due to the slim nature of the volume the story didn't feel complete. By the time the ending chapters occur I felt as if the author rushed to a conclusion too abruptly.

The story is very much like Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (of which Bet grows to love) or maybe more accurately the Amanda Bynes' movie from about half a decade ago She's the Man (in which Bynes dresses like her twin brother, and attends school in his place, all while he's off having some sort of musical epiphany). Actually that's an apt description; show more much of what happens to Viola in the movie (it is a direct update of Twelfth Night) is mirrored in The Education of Bet. That's not a bad thing! Amanda Bynes in general, and She's the Man in specific, entertains me a lot. It just made me feel like dejavu.

What works best for this novel is when Bet is struggling to be more 'boy' like, but ending up being even less so. To that point Bet lived a very sheltered life, having never left the estate since her and Will had moved in with their Uncle. All her knowledge of what boys are like come from Will, his stories and her books. She doesn't understand why there is so much social posturing, bullying, arguing and a sort of defeatism. While this makes sense, it also marks her as being very very naive. There's no doubt that at the all-girl schools similiar, if less hands-on and violent, things happen between the students. Just whereas boys will use their fists first, girls use their words. Bet never had that experience however, being the bastard daughter of a maid. She often will question things that happen or things that her room-mate, James, acts as if are ordinary.

The characters over all are shallow feeling, with very little depth given to the vast majority of them. Bet longs for an education and to go to school, but we're never shown exactly why (for the freedom of it? Just because she wants to? The author implies several different reasons, but doesn't seek to expand on them). Similiarly Will longs to join the military, but has such a romantisized view of it that it made me wonder at if he was at all intelligent. James is quiet, and feared and likes to keep a low profile--but until the end we aren't told very much of his backstory. I'm still wondering why the other students kept a wide berth from him (just because he was so weird?).

There is also a certain amount of uneveness to the narrative. For the first fifty pages Bet goes back and forth with memories and stories she was told of her family before moving in with Gardner. Once she's at the school, other than infrequent letters to Will, its almost exclusively dedicated to the present. This makes the news Bet receives seem like it come out of no where. Truly when she said "I hadn't thought about it" (that's the paraphrase, if I put the quote in it would be a spoiler) in a surprised manner I believed her. I certainly hadn't thought about it. The scattered clues leading to the revealation were just there in the story.

Though this is a critical review, I did enjoy the novel. Bet's interactions with Will and later James are amusing, as is her commentary on what its like to be a boy. Just reading about her trying to keep all the lies straight is entertaining. Unfortunately it suffers from being entirely too short. 192 pages was clearly not enough time for Baratz-Logsted to flesh out this story suitably.

And a minor pet peeve: the exact year this is set is never said or shown. Nor are there any clues as to when it is! While I don't think knowing whether it was set in 1804 or 1876 is critical to the plot, it would have at least kept me from trying to figure it out. show less

So Bet comes up with a plan and persuades Will to give it a try: They’ll switch places. She’ll go to school as Will. Will can live as he chooses. But once Bet gets to school, she soon realizes living as a boy is going to be much more difficult than she imagined.

The Education of Bet is a sweet and humorous story told in a wonderful voice! I have read at least one historical novel where a woman dresses like a man to do something only a man can do and I absolutely adored it, so when I heard about The Education of Bet bringing this concept to the YA genre I was really excited!

And Bet didn't let me down. From page one I had a lot of fun reading about her adventures in school masquerading as a boy. The author crafted her voice in such a show more way that she is so proper even while doing scandalous boy type things, I loved it! And falling for her roommate that thinks she's a boy, priceless! Her relationship with James (her roommate) is so sweet, even when they are both boys, they really look out for each other. We don't see a ton of her relationship with her "brother in spirit" Will save for the beginning of the book but I really liked what I saw of Will as well.

I knew eventually Bet would have to be discovered by someone as a girl but I didn't know how and it was so fun getting there. The Education of Bet was a sweet and very cute book, which I definitely recommend! show less

THE EDUCATION OF BET took me completely by surprise! Before this novel, I'd never read anything by Lauren Baratz-Logsted, but I was intrigued by the description.

I found the lengths Bet and Will go to in order to disguise Bet as a boy entertaining. I was skeptical that Baratz-Logsted would be able to make this aspect of the novel believable, but I actually found it very convincing. I especially loved that there were adults at the school aiding Bet in her quest for an education.

It was inspiring to see Bet fight so hard for something she wanted... something other than a boy. Don't get me wrong, I love a good romance, but it was refreshing to see the main character so passionate about something else. It definitely reminded me how lucky show more I am to have the opportunity to go to school... with all the stress, homework, and insane costs, it's easy to forget that.

But wait! There's romance too! Which, honestly, I should have anticipated, but I really hadn't. It was interesting an interesting and memorable romance, since, during the development of the romance, Bet is still disguised as Will. Understandably, this leads to some awkward moments, but Baratz-Logsted did a wonderful job making their story believable. show less

Reread (2023):
I had my phone read the book aloud so I didn’t notice some of the grammatical stuff that I was annoyed by last time.
Still, it was highly entertaining even if ridiculous in parts.
3.5 Stars

Original Review (2019):
Oh boy, this book was not the best but for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to DNF it.
For starters, this seemed like it was not edited well. The author loved using exclamation marks! Every other sentence! Seriously!
Secondly, the flashbacks to when Bet was young. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not believe that four-year-olds know enough to be mad at the world. And speak in complex sentences.
3 Stars

I have a soft spot of historical novels where a young girl goes against convention to fight for what she wants. This book was a sweet and wonderful novel about a girl (Bet) going the extra mile to get what she yearns for most...an education. I got an advanced reading copy of this novel through the Amazon Vine program.

Bet is the daughter of a maid and is being raised along with William who is the son of a lord. William hates school and wants to join the military, Bet wants to go to school more than anything. So they devise a plan, Bet takes Will's place at his new school and Will joins the military.

This is a slim novel and the story isn't maybe as realistic as one would hope, but that being said it is an incredibly sweet story and very show more fun. Bet is witty and just plain old amusing, I loved her character. William is another wonderful character. And I am sure everyone will get a bit swoony over James, Bet's male roommate. Many of the situations Bet runs into at the boarding school are hilarious and watching her squirm her way out of them is a lot of fun.

This is a story that will make you feel happy when you read it, it doesn't push you mentally and the characters don't go through so much trauma that you cringe. It is an easy read and a fun one. A nice, sweet, romantic historical fiction that I think all ages can get into (although it is definitely aimed at the female set).

I really enjoyed it a lot. My only complaint is that I thought some parts were a bit too positive and unrealistic. All the women who found out Bet's secret were willing to help her out and the way things went with James in the end was a bit too convenient. Still, Bet deserved all the help she got and the niceness of it all made it a joy to read.

Overall, I liked this book a lot. It is a quick, fun, sweet read. Bet is a character you have to love and watching her go through her antics was a lot of fun. show less

Baratz-Logsted does a wonderful job painting a picture of the cloistered world in which Bet lives. Typical of this time period, she is expected to be seen and not heard. It is a crime (not literally) to be a woman who speaks openly, honestly, and with an air of education. In fact, education is absolutely unheard of for a girl, which is the underlying reason that Bet convinces her friend Will to switch places with her.

Keeping an air of dignity and propriety Bet slips flawlessly into the life of her partner in crime. Subtly devious Bet does her best to maintain her decorum and as much of a ladylike stance as possible given her new prep school surroundings. As one would expect, she did struggle a bit with the differences between being a show more girl and the presumptions of being a boy but I felt like she was a bit too quick to take to all of the mannerisms and traits her deception required. I would have preferred to see her struggle a bit more with that adjustment.

Having said that, there was struggle galore in her assimilation into the boys will be boys culture of school. Baratz-Logsted was pitch perfect in her portrayal of that aspect. Being a girl posing as a boy certainly brought with it certain difficulties and she demonstrated that quite well using the relationships Bet was building (or not building) with her fellow classmates.

Despite the initial focus of the story being on Bet’s desire for an education it quickly took a back seat to other aspects of the plot (most notably romance) once she arrived at school. There were still references to that underlying theme throughout but once in the school setting the story shifted its focus more into the interpersonal relationships she was building with the different boys on campus. I say this not because it was a detriment of the story but because it is from this element that Education of Bet showed it’s greatest strengths.

There were many twists and turns throughout the story that I saw coming but I feel confident that the intended target audience of readers much younger than I am will be surprised by the outcome of several key points in the story. They are well devised and not at all overbearing as they unfold. Baratz-Logsted has definitely mastered the art of finessing a story to keep it from being heavy handed in critical areas of suspence.

I must admit I much preferred Baratz-Logsted’s Crazy Beautiful, but even so The Education of Bet is a great book for girls who are interested in starting to dabble in romance and historical fiction. The portrayal of the time period was deep enough to give good perspective but not so overwhelming that it took over the whole story with excessive descriptions and flowery prose. Add to that a sweetly endearing love story and you have the perfect book for upper middle graders and beyond. show less

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

What a fun book! The EDUCATION OF BET took me totally by surprise. The storyline caught my interest, but it was the actual book that kept me turning the pages.

Elizabeth "Bet" was the daughter of the manor help. Will was the son of the lord of the manor. They were born into the same house, but never interacted. At least not until they were both orphaned and Will's uncle took them in.
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Bet is stuck between two worlds - that of servant and that of almost family. Will is still privileged but tossing away his education. He's been kicked out of four schools and his uncle has given him one last chance. Bet would give anything for the educational opportunities that Will is just throwing away. Will, on the show more other hand, wants nothing more than to join the military. But being the only remaining heir, it would kill his uncle to allow Will to sign up.

It's with this knowledge that Bet hatches her crazy scheme. She convinces Will to let her take his place at his new school. If Will can help her walk and talk and act like a boy, she can assume his identity and he can join the military. The two come up with a workable plan, and everything starts off smoothly.

But there are things that Bet didn't account for upon arriving at school. Least of all is her attraction to her roommate, James.

From that point on, you can imagine the situation. It all gets far more complicated, and getting to the ending is half the fun. Don't let the fact that THE EDUCATION OF BET may be classified as "historical" in genre put you off. It may take place in the past, but the style is easy to read and applicable to any time period. This was so different from the other books I've read by Ms. Baratz-Logsted, but it was just as enjoyable, if not more so, than those others. show less